Bad Math Jokes

[Borg]

The real question on this forum is how many people performed the calculation.

 

[jack action]

The real question on this forum is how many people performed the calculation.

Guilty!

 

[Borg]

Guilty!

Me too!

 

[phinds]

Me three. Was that the whole point of the "joke", to get us to waste a few seconds, or is there some meaning to one of the numbers?

 

[Arjan82]

Me four... Also, the only 'meaning' I've found is that the square root of 37.21 is exactly 6.1. I've converted that to binary but that didn't tell me anything...

 

[Borg]

Me four... Also, the only 'meaning' I've found is that the square root of 37.21 is exactly 6.1. I've converted that to binary but that didn't tell me anything...

Leave it to someone on this forum to see that.

 

[jack action]

It works because a nautical mile is based on a degree of latitude, and the Earth (e) is a circle.​

 

[Baluncore]

It works because a nautical mile is based on a degree of latitude, and the Earth (e) is a circle.

The nautical mile is actually based on one arc minute of longitude.

The speed of light is sea. Mean sea level is the same, wherever you measure it. You can check because the sea level rises to the plimsoll or load line on a boat, no matter where on Earth you measure it.

One statute mile is 1.609344 km.
One nautical mile is 1.852000 km.
One knot is one nautical mile per hour.
e nautical miles = 5034.258 m.
Pi statute miles = 5055.903 m. They differ by 0.43%
The close coincidence rests on the definition of the statute mile, as used in the UK and the US, being 5280 English feet.

The Royal Observatory, Greenwich, defined one nautical mile, to subtend an arc of one minute, along the equator. So there are 360*60=21,600 nautical miles around the equator = 40,003.2 km.

Napoleon defined the metre to be one ten millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator, through Paris. That makes the Earth's polar girth 40,000.0 km, which is shorter than the equatorial girth of 40,003.2 km.

The English and the French have a love-hate relationship, so can never agree to disagree.

 

[Arjan82]

The nautical mile is actually based on one arc minute of longitude.

Latitude though... If it is based on longitude, the mile is longest at the equator and zero at the poles...

 

[Baluncore]

Latitude though... If it is based on longitude, the mile is longest at the equator and zero at the poles...

Latitude was used originally to define the metre, not the nautical mile.

The Royal Observatory, Greenwich, defined one nautical mile, to subtend an arc of one minute, along the equator.

The nautical mile was defined by longitude at the equator, NOT latitude anywhere.

 

[Arjan82]

The nautical mile was defined by longitude at the equator, NOT latitude anywhere.

Hmmm, ok, I didn't know that...

I've always been taught that if you want to measure a nautical mile on a chart (you know, an actual physical one...) with your divider (an actual physical thing you know...) you need to measure one minute along the latitude, not longitude, because that would only work on the equator. But that doesn't mean that it is defined that way of course... That's where my confusion comes from.

 

[jack action]